I wouldn’t miss it!
Mom 3:25pm
How long will you stay?
Penny 3:27pm
I’m not sure yet. I was planning to come out Wednesday. See the nieces
Mom 3:28pm
Maybe you could come at the beginning of the week? Stay until after the weekend?
Penny 3:28pm
Zero pressure?
Mom 3:28pm
Not trying to pressure you, love. We just miss you.
Penny 3:29pm
I know. I miss you too. I’ll look at it and let you know ??
Penny wasin the middle of deboning a chicken when Brett walked in through the front door. She glanced at the clock. Three forty-two. He’d told her he wouldn’t be home until five. “Hey.” She pushed a stray tendril of hair back from her face with her wrist.
Brett grunted and tossed his keys on the table by the door.
“That good, hey?”
He stopped and looked up, and Penny froze with her hand wrapped around a thigh bone. The fire blazing behind his eyes made Penny’s insides trade positions. “I’m going to the gym.”
She nodded. “Dinner will be ready in—”
“I want to kill your ex, you know that?” He stopped next to the counter, and Penny swallowed hard, looking up at his stony expression. “I’ve never wanted to beat someone to a pulp so bad—”
“Never?” Penny’s heart galloped in her chest as she tore the bone out and set it on the plate.
“Only on the ice.”
Penny’s curiosity ran wild.He’d seen Danny at work?“What did he do?”
Brett’s jaw worked, and she could’ve sworn he inched closer to her before saying, “You weren’t the problem in that relationship. You know that, right?”
Penny’s mouth opened and closed like a guppy. “I don’t think you have enough information to—”
Brett put a hand on her cheek, and her skin prickled. “You weren’t the problem, Penny.”
She stared into his blue eyes, momentarily forgetting the chicken on her hands or what part of the house she was standing in.
As quickly as his touch came, he pulled away and stalked into the living room, growling under his breath. “I need to sweat. I need to run or sprint on skates, I need to—” He ran his hands through his hair, and Penny quickly scrubbed her hands with soap and dried them on a towel.
“Brett, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened, but I one hundred percent know this feeling. I think the gym’s a good idea.”
Brett gave a sardonic laugh. “It’s not enough. I need to sweat. I need to run myself ragged after the filth I heard spewing from that asshole’s mouth, and there’s nothing I can do! I can’t run with this knee! I can’t get on the ice! I’ve been taking it easy for weeks, trying to accept that I have to give my body time, but I don’t do well withtime.”
Brett’s chest rose and fell in quick bursts as explosive energy rolled off him in waves. Red flags went up inside Penny’s head screamingDanger!but she knew better. This was Brett. True, she’d never seen him this riled up, but somehow, she knew instinctively that he’d never do anything to hurt her.Hewas hurting. That’s what this was about, and if there was anything she was good at, it was helping people work through pain.
